8September2007
Posted by Gary K under: CSS; Design.
I made my first purchase from ProjectSeven.com: Pop Menu Magic. I’m not disappointed with the purchase. While I enjoy creating my own menus, like the simple CSS menu I employed at Kopycinski.net — a site very much still in development — Project Seven does have some very nice products.
They’re a bit on the pricey side, but, you get what you pay for. I did have to ask a few questions from support already, and received prompt answers from Al Sparber. Very courteous, professional, to the point.
I’m using one menu for State Rep. Al Riley’s site, which I intend to formally announce this week sometime. The web site is almost completed. Stop back in a few days for the official release.
18August2007
Posted by Gary K under: Design; Hosting.
One of the nice things about WordPress blogs is the versatility. Changing themes is a snap, and I rather like this one, called, Autumn Concept 1.0, created by Ed Merritt. Photography by Peter Hellebrand.
I always add my own code to the CSS of any theme, but this one already appears to be very well put together.
Did you know that some people devote their entire domain to a blog? Yes, it’s true, you can get free blogs at Blogspot.com and event at WordPress.com, the truth is, you get what you pay for. You don’t have access to your CSS at those sites. You’re essentially stuck with what you get.
Start a blog at Shire Enterprises! Fully installed blogs start at only $150 plus the cost of domain registration and hosting.
Enough with the commercial. Enjoy the new look.
18August2007
Posted by Gary K under: CSS; Design; Photography; Portfolio.
Tall Grass Arts Association, an art gallery in downtown Park Forest, IL, is a very busy place.
Now, Park Forest itself is an interesting town. By way of full disclosure, I do serve on the Park Forest Village Board, so I do have a bias in promoting my town. The village has struggled to bring businesses back to the town after its erstwhile “Center” suffered a devastating loss of businesses over a decade-and-a-half ago. But the Arts (capitalized, out of respect) never left. The downtown area is home to two art galleries, the Illinois Theater Company, a beautiful theater, and home office for the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Tall Grass gallery is thriving. Just came home from an opening of the new exhibit, Ink.
The wonderful collage at the top of this article is a collection of various pieces by current Tall Grass artists, something I threw together last night when doing the most recent update for the Tall Grass Arts Association web page. My most recent addition to the site is a collection of pages featuring various artists from the gallery. My favorite page is the face page with the artists’ names. The tiny “T” bullet next to the names is a nice touch, showing what CSS can do for us.
I maintain the site. The design, though table-based, is really very attractive. Put together by Sergio Gomez, it is very solid.
Thought you would appreciate the design, and the collage. We really have wonderful artists.
17June2007
Posted by Gary K under: Hosting.
69.89.23.83
That’s today’s magic number, and the magic number for all clients of Shire Enterprises, Inc. That’s our Dedicated IP at Bluehost.com, our preferred host.
What’s an IP? Our friends at Wikipedia have put this together:
An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. Any participating network device—including routers, computers, time-servers, printers, Internet fax machines, and some telephones—can have their own unique address.
An IP address can also be thought of as the equivalent of a street address or a phone number (compare: VoIP (voice over (the) internet protocol)) for a computer or other network device on the Internet. Just as each street address and phone number uniquely identifies a building or telephone, an IP address can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on a network. An IP address differs from other contact information, however, because the linkage of a user’s IP address to his/her name is not publicly available information.
A dedicated IP address is not shared by other domain names; it is unique to your domain name and your space on the server.
The benefits to our clients are many. Among these:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - For some reason, sites on a dedicate IP show do better in the search engines. There are quite a few things we do “behind the scenes” to make sure our web sites show up closer to the top of the rankings. For example, if you sell “widgets,” and who doesn’t, then what is to distinguish your site from any other if someone wants to buy “widgets” in your home town? So, someone goes to Google and does a query for, “Widgets in Park Forest.” A site that is properly optimized will show up before sites that are more poorly put together.
- Dedicated IP = Friendly IP: Many hosts allow so many sub-accounts on one IP , and some many be spammers. And an IP can get banned by various spam blockers because someone on that IP is unscrupulous, and if that happens to your IP, then your email (and all others on that IP) can get tagged by these organizations as Spam, and you then get your email blacklisted. It would be, if you have a small list of subscribers or depend on INCOME of a legitimate list. So your email would never be delivered.
These are just some of the ways we’re working to make Shire Enterprises the ultimate design and hosting experience for our customers.
2June2007
Posted by Gary K under: Hosting.
After perhaps a bit too much soul searching and agonizing, I am moving Shire Enterprises, Inc. from midPhase to BlueHost.com. I hear very good things about BlueHost. It’s taken a lot of my time so far, but I anticipate success in the long run.
If you read this message, we are at the new site, safely migrated.
22May2007
Posted by Gary K under: Legal.
I’m taking a class with the International Webmasters Association, “Legal Issues for Web Designers and Content Managers.” Just into the second week, the following is my homework from week one, a case analysis on ASHCROFT V. FREE SPEECH COALITION.
Ashcroft lost. Enjoy:
Gary Kopycinski
Legal Issues for Web Designers and Content Managers
Case Analysis, Week 1
May 20, 2007
Case Selected: ASHCROFT V. FREE SPEECH COALITION
Complete name of the case:
No. 00795
JOHN D. ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL, et al.,
PETITIONERS v. THE FREE SPEECH
COALITION et al.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
The case was heard before the United States Supreme Court. The decision was rendered April 16, 2002.
Specifically, two provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA) were struck down by the court. The first:
Section 2256(8)(B) prohibits any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture†that “is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
In short, any image that might appear to be a child was subject to is subject to CPPA. The court held that this was overly broad:
For instance, the literal terms of the statute embrace a Renaissance painting depicting a scene from classical mythology, a picture that appears to be, of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
In essence, once Government starts drawing lines prohibiting free speech, where does it end? The court decided that the risks were too great.
The court held that the second provision, §2256(8)(D), was quite broad:
Section 2256(8)(D) defines child pornography to include any sexually explicit image that was advertised, promoted, presented, described, or distributed in such a manner that conveys the impression it depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The key phrase in this section, according to the court, is conveys the impression that the material depicts minors in sexually explicit conduct. Here, the court argues that the trailer of a movie might be considered child pornography, even if the film itself contains no sexually explicit scenes involving minors, but the trailer suggests that such scenes might be found in the movie. The court says this goes too far.
In sum, §2256(8)(B) covers materials beyond the categories recognized in Ferber and Miller, and the reasons the Government offers in support of limiting the freedom of speech have no justification in our precedents or in the law of the First Amendment. The provision abridges the freedom to engage in a substantial amount of lawful speech. For this reason, it is overbroad and unconstitutional.
The decision covers a number of other possible scenarios, such as the argument that images of virtual children engaged in sexual activity might encourage people to participate or seek out that type of activity; or that such images might be used to lure children into compromising situations. However, the court says that many other things might be used to accomplish these same ends, and the Government cannot ban everything.
The mere tendency of speech to encourage unlawful acts is not a sufficient reason for banning it.
In short, the court concluded, the prohibitions of §§2256(8)(B) and 2256(8)(D) are overbroad and unconstitutional.
Analysis for Web Designers
While sexual exploitation of children is a horrible and heinous act, the court was not arguing that these activities should be tolerated. The problem, as the court saw, was that free speech would suffer if these prohibitions went unchallenged:
The Government cannot ban speech fit for adults simply because it may fall into the hands of children. The evil in question depends upon the actor’s unlawful conduct, conduct defined as criminal quite apart from any link to the speech in question. This establishes that the speech ban is not narrowly drawn. The objective is to prohibit illegal conduct, but this restriction goes well beyond that interest by restricting the speech available to law-abiding adults.
In short, the court argued, “The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”
While no scrupulous web designer would argue in favor of child pornography, the court made a distinction between what is real or what is a virtual creation. Perhaps one of the most telling passages is one prohibition which was not challenged in this case, and which the court also did not challenge, Section 2256(8)(C) prohibits a more common and lower tech means of creating virtual images, known as computer morphing. In short, if a designer were to take an image of a real child and alter it so that the child appeared to be engaged in sexual activity, the fact that a real child is used in the original image removes this from the decision before the court:
Although morphed images may fall within the definition of virtual child pornography, they implicate the interests of real children and are in that sense closer to the images in Ferber. Respondents do not challenge this provision, and we do not consider it.
Using an image of a real child then does fall under the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. Designers must exercise extreme caution, therefore, when using images of children. While many examples of distorted images of adults may abound online and on television (e.g. The Onion, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and numerous blogs and online publications), images of children are strictly off- limits.
Given that sexual exploitation of children is one of if not perhaps the most grievous and atrocious offenses possible in our society, the ruling gives broad permission for the creation of virtual images.
9May2007
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
Google announced a new version of Google Analytics today. According to the release, Google Analytics is:
a free enterprise-class solution, enables executives, marketers and website owners to understand how their users interact with their website and help increase online business. Google has completely redesigned the product and enhanced the feature set through new email reporting, customizable dashboards, improved map displays, and plain language descriptions to make important information more accessible.
I use Google Analytics on every site I maintain. It is handy, but I do find it misses hits. A much more reliable solution is Awstats. Some hosts charge extra to add and maintain Awstats on a domain, but it’s a much more reliable source, especially if one wants to justify advertising.
However, Google Analytics is free, and the graphics are very nice.
Read all about the new version here.
18February2007
Posted by Gary K under: Rant; Web design.
Have you ever felt too connected to the world because of all of these devices we have? As designers, we need to learn to take breaks as well. This is especially true as virtually anywhere now can become a work place. I can set up shop anywhere in my home. I can set up shop with coffee at a bookstore, thanks to Wi-Fi. Even our local library now offers free Wi-Fi.
And it works well.
That’s part of the reason I resist moving to anything beyond DSL and Wi-Fi at this point in my life. I don’t know how my world would change if I could suddenly set up shop anywhere. Anywhere. The town swimming pool could become yet another place for me to sit and design web pages, or work on eNews, or anything else. I hardly remember the days of playing solitaire on Windows 3.1 any more.
Remember solitaire?
I remember setting up my first bulletin board on OS/2. Yes, it was also called, “The Shire,” and I got to the point where I connected to FidoNet, and had a blast. It was fun play, and I learned tons. But, it also took time.
So, sometimes, it’s all about taking time off. Working at home, the days can turn into evenings, weekends can disappear. Sometimes we need to step back.
14February2007
Posted by Gary K under: Web design.
Sometimes a headline is just too good, too funny.
Webroot Cautions Users to Use Protection When Looking for Love Online
The story is from Webroot Software, Inc., providers of industry leading security software for consumers, enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses worldwide. The release comes on Valentine’s Day, and I have to hand it to them, this is very clever marketing.
To coincide with Valentine’s Day, Internet security developer Webroot Software today cautioned users to protect themselves and their families against dangerous Internet threats and identity thieves when looking for love online. Webroot warned users against inadvertently posting personal information that can in turn be used by spammers, spyware purveyors, online predators or identity thieves. There have also been reports of malware developers creating false profiles on various social networking sites to target and attract the large installed base of users.
The story goes on to give some very good advice on avoiding the pitfalls of spyware and other nasty things.
Read the full story here.
19January2007
Posted by Gary K under: Software.
Departing from web design, there are some software packages that we have begun to use with regularity. Burning a CD or DVD can be a complicated process, or friendly and simple. Many of these packages were free in the past, and there still are good free packages available. But sometimes you get what you pay for.
Nero is winning awards, and deserves your consideration.
Read the full story here.